United Powers League
The United Powers League or UPL, was a former hegemony on Earth. It was succeeded by the United Earth Directorate.Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998. History The United Powers League was formed on November 22, 2229 following the decline of Western civilization and the seeming break down of society that started in the 22nd century. It succeeded the defunct United Nations and took on the mantle as the defender of humanity. The UPL police-state controlled almost the entire Earth, including close to 93% of the population, excluding a few volatile South American countries. The UPL sought to enforce conformity in the name of "enlightened socialism". Fascist tactics destroyed ethnic separation and racism. English was imposed as the primary language while other languages were banned. Unitariate Commissions began banning religions in 2231Hickman, Tracy (May 21, 2002). StarCraft: Speed of Darkness. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 0-671-04150-9. and religion fell under an official ban. The UPL successfully developed new advanced forms of technology, reopening many fields of science that had been largely ignored for centuries under the jurisdiction. The UPL developed warp drive and cryonic technologies, opening the frontiers of space; within forty years the UPL had founded colonies on moons and planets in the Solar System. Project Purification While not a religious organization, the UPL embraced the philosophy of "the divinity of mankind", scholars arguing that genetic alteration, cyber technology and the use of psychoactive drugs led to the degeneration of the human species. Actions of hard-line members of the UPL resulted in law being enforced which led to launch of Project Purification, its goal to remove mutations and unnecessary cybernetic prosthetics from the human population. Rounding up dissidents, hackers, synthetics, the cybernetically enhanced, tech-pirates, and criminals of every kind; they were determined to ensure mankind's purity and survival as species in the wake of ever increasing cybernetic enchantments and mutations altering human gene pool; "Project Purification" was instituted: a campaign of mass genocide in which over 400 million people were eradicated. Courtesy of the state controlled media, the general populance remained ignorant of the true scope of the genocide being perpetrated. Project Purification lasted for nearly eighty years. The Long Sleep During this period, a brilliant young scientist named Doran Routhe made plans to consolidate his power within the UPL. His passion lay in colonization of planets outside the Solar System. Thanks to his connections within UPL and some good luck, Routhe managed to get thousands of people captured by UPL as specimens for his project; they were brought in Routhe's secret laboratories with him planning to use them in his project to colonize the outlying world of Gantris VI. Routhe and his science team secretly prepared to put the thousands of prisoners in stasis for transport on supercarriers. The lead ship, the Nagglfar, was loaded with ATLAS, an artificial intelligence, which processed the data on genetic and cybernetic changes in the prisoners. ATLAS scanned the prisoners en route, and discovered something unusual about them; a small proportion (less than one percent of the prisoners) possessed a mutant strain which augmented psionic potential. While currently weak, it would manifest in only a few generations. This information was logged and sent back to Earth. Originally the voyage was supposed to last only one year, however, the guidance system of the Nagglfar connected with ATLAS failed and all data regarding Gantris VI's and Earth's location were lost. Doran Routhe's experiments had become known by this time; his reputation was ruined when the ships traveled past Gantris VI. His many enemies chased him to the Centauri colonies.Chris Metzen, StarCraft Legacy staff. 2009-04-03. SC:L Metzen Interview - Lore Exclusive. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2009-05-18. The ships spent nearly three decades in warp space, eventually emerging into the Koprulu Sector. The involuntary colonists forged their own unique civilizations across the galaxy. Political Transformation Although the terran settlers of the Koprulu Sector were unaware of it, they were secretly monitored by those who had exiled them. At first the UPL were disinterested observers. They had little interest or incentive in involving themselves with the backwater colonials.Underwood, Peter, Chris Metzen and Bill Roper. StarCraft: Brood War (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998. This state of affairs changed when the Koprulu Sector was invaded by the protoss and the zerg. The UPL had never encountered intelligent extraterrestrial life before and the result was widespread panic. As before, the UPL could hardly have cared less about the fate of the Koprulu Sector or the colonials fighting and dying there. However the new alien species could pose a threat to the UPL, to Earth, and this required a response. The few nations that had resisted domination by the UPL now joined in the interests of protection. The resulting changes resulted in the reformation of the UPL as the United Earth Directorate. Territories Star Systems *Alpha Centauri System *Beta Centauri System *Proxima Centauri System *Solar System *Tau Ceti System Planets *Centauri Colonies *Earth (capital world) *Jupiter *Mars *Mercury *Neptune *Saturn *Uranus *Venus References Government}} Category: Terran Organizations